Democratic adult education (AE) promotes social change through active and pragmatic learning. This learning considers the impact of individual, community, organization, and broader cultural influences. Democratic civic engagement (DCE) in higher education institutions (HEIs) emphasizes inclusive participation and reciprocity. These values are deeply grounded in democratic adult education (AE) practice and community problem-solving processes in practice-based professions like Occupational Therapy (OT). In this article, we examine a new graduate OT program in the northeast region of the US and the roles of OT stakeholders as co-creators and co-educators in both institutional and community education settings. We highlight how this program is grounded in DCE which helps bridge the gap between an academic program (OT within HEI) and the broader social environment (interlocking systems not built to support diverse lived experiences) using a DCE model.
AlfredM. V.RayS. M.ZarestkyJ. (2020). HRD and social justice: Education in support of the UN sustainable development goals. New Horizons in Adult Education and Human Resource Development, 32(4), 4–16. https://doi.org/10.1002/nha3.20293
3.
Batista de SouzaJ. R.BorbaP. L. D. O.PanL. C.LopesR. E. (2021). ‘Inclusion and ‘democracy’ in education: An exploration of concepts and ideas for occupational therapists. World Federation of Occupational Therapists Bulletin, 77(2), 107–113. https://doi.org/10.1080/14473828.2021.1921929
4.
BringleR. G.ClaytonP. H.PriceM. (2009). Partnerships in service learning and civic engagement. Partnerships: A Journal of Service-Learning & Civic Engagement, 1(1), 1–20.
5.
BrookfieldS. (2001). A political analysis of discussion groups can the circle be unbroken? In CerveroR. M.WilsonA. L.Associates (Eds.), Power in practice adult education and the struggle for knowledge and power in society (pp. 206–225). Jossey-Bass.
6.
BrookfieldS. (2013). Powerful techniques for teaching adults. Jossey-Bass.
7.
BrunerJ. (1960). The process of education. The President and Fellows of Harvard College.
8.
BrunerJ. (1996). The culture of education. Harvard University Press.
9.
BrunerJ. (2002). Making stories: Law, literature, life. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
CourtneyS. (2018). Why adults learn: Towards a theory of participation in adult education. Routledge.
12.
DzurA. W. (2018). Democracy inside: Participatory innovation in unlikely places. Oxford University Press.
13.
FreireP. (2000). Pedagogy of the oppressed. Continuum.
14.
FrickerM. (2017). Evolving concepts of epistemic injustice. In: The Routledge handbook of epistemic injustice (pp. 53–60). Routledge.
15.
GentryK.SnyderK.BarstowB.Hamson-UtleyJ. (2018). The biopsychosocial model: Application to occupational therapy practice. The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy, 6(4), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.15453/2168-6408.1412.
16.
GirouxH. (2008). Against the terror of neoliberalism: Politics beyond the age of greed. Paradigm Publishers.
17.
HarrisM. S. (2021). The soft underbelly of universities as anchor institutions: The disconnect between university and community research priorities. Higher Education Policy, 34(3), 603–621. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41307-019-00156-y
18.
HartleyM. (2011). Idealism and compromise and the civic engagement movement. In To serve a larger purpose”: Engagement for democracy and the transformation of higher education (pp. 27–48). Temple University Press.
19.
HeanyJ. J. (2005). Social regularities between police officers and victims of male violence: Identifying the limitations of mandatory arrest policies. University of Missouri-Kansas City.
20.
HooksB. (1994). Teaching to transgress: Education as the practice of freedom. Routledge.
21.
HouselD. A. (2020). When co-occurring factors impact adult learners: Suggestions for instruction, preservice training, and professional development. Adult Learning, 31(1), 6–16. https://doi.org/10.1177/1045159519849910
22.
HoytL. (2011). Sustained city-campus engagement: Developing an epistemology for our time. In SaltmarshJ.HartleyM. (Eds.), To serve a larger purpose”: Engagement for democracy and the transformation of higher education (pp. 265–288). Temple University Press.
23.
JacquezF. M. A.WardE.GoguenM. (2016). Collaborative engagement research and implications for institutional change. In Publicly engaged scholars: Next generation engagement and the future of higher education (1st ed., pp. 76–93). Stylus Publishing.
KastnerM.MotschilnigR. (2022). Interconnectedness of adult basic education, community-based participatory research, and transformative learning. Adult Education Quarterly, 72(3), 223–241. https://doi.org/10.1177/07417136211044154
26.
KezarA. J.DrivalasY.KitchenJ. (2018a). Envisioning public scholarship for our time: Models for higher education researchers (1st ed.). Stylus Publishing, LLC.
27.
KezarA. J.DrivalasY.KitchenJ. (2018b). Defining the evolving concept of public scholarship. In Envisioning public scholarship for our time: Models for higher education researchers (1st ed., pp. 3–17). Stylus Publishing, LLC.
28.
LindemanE. (1987). Adult education and the democratic discipline (1944). In BrookfieldS. (Ed.), Learning democracy: Eduard Lindeman on adult education and social change (pp. 152–161). New Republic, Inc.
29.
MirzaM.MagasiS.HammelJ. (2016). Soul searching occupations: Critical reflections on occupational therapy’s commitment to social justice, disability rights, and participation. In BlockP.KasnitzD.NishidaA.PollardN. (Eds.), Occupying disability: Critical approaches to community, justice, and decolonizing disability (1st ed., pp. 159–174). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9984-3
30.
PendergrastC.MonnatS. M. (2022). COVID-19 negatively impacted health and social relationships among working-age adults with disabilities. In Population Health Research Brief Series (pp. 1–4). Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health.
31.
PetrieM.McGregorC.CrowtherJ. (2019). Populism, democracy and a pedagogy of renewal. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 38(5), 488–502. https://doi.org/10.1080/02601370.2019.1617798
32.
RoumellE. A.James-GallawayA. D. (2021). Social movements, community education, and the fight for racial justice: Black women and social transformation. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 2021(170), 21–31. https://doi.org/10.1002/ace.20422
33.
SaltmarshJ.GelmonS. (2011) Characteristics of an Engaged department: Design and assessment”. In Higher education and democracy (Vol. 9781439900390, pp. 266–279). Temple University Press.
34.
SaltmarshJ.HartleyM. (2011). Democratic engagement. In To serve a larger purpose”: Engagement for democracy and the transformation of higher education (pp. 14–26). Temple University Press.
35.
SaltmarshJ.HartleyM.ClaytonP. (2009). Democratic engagement white paper. New England Resource Center for Higher Education. Retrieved from. https://repository.upenn.edu/gse_pubs/274
36.
SchalgeS.PajunenM.BrothertonJ. (2018). Service learning makes it real” Assessing value and relevance in anthropology education. Annals of Anthropological Practice, 42(1), 6–18. https://doi.org/10.1111/napa.12116
37.
WeltonM. (2013). Subjects to citizens: Adult learning and the challenges of democracy in the twenty-first century. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 2013(138), 9–18. https://doi.org/10.1002/ace.20049
